Nine Imperial researchers celebrate new Fellowships

New Fellows of Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, USA, and Academy of Medical Sciences<em> - News</em>

By Laura Gallagher, Lucy Goodchild and Colin Smith
Tuesday 25 May 2010

Nine Imperial College London researchers have been celebrating recently after being elected to prestigious Fellowships in the UK and the USA.

Elections in 2010 have resulted in three new Fellows of the Royal Society from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Physics and Medicine; two new Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA from the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology; and three new Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences from the Departments of Medicine and Surgery and Cancer.

Fellows of the Royal Society

Professors Peter Cawley, Russell Cowburn and Elizabeth Simpson have been elected to the UK's national academy of science and are permitted to place the letters FRS after their names. They are joined by Visiting Professor John William Connor.

Professor Peter Cawley (Department of Mechanical Engineering) is distinguished for his research in non-destructive evaluation (NDE), particularly sonic and ultrasonic techniques, and their application in industry.

Professor Cawley leads the Nondestructive Evaluation Group at Imperial, having worked at the College since 1981. He has developed a range of technologies for the petrochemical and power industries, including long range ultrasonic guided wave inspection devices. These can be used to remotely monitor up to 100 metres of pipe work to detect corrosion using sound waves. The ultrasonic transducer has been commercialised by the group into a spinout company called Guided Ultrasonics Ltd.

Professor Peter Cawley

Professor Cawley and his group have also developed wireless sensors that enable ultrasound measurements to be made at temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius, so that corrosion and erosion can be constantly monitored in petrochemical plants. Professor Cawley and his team have recently set up Permasense Ltd to market the ultrasonic transducers to petrochemical industry.

"I'm really pleased and honoured to be elected, and it's particularly satisfying to have very applied work recognised by the Royal Society. As ever, the group leader gets the plaudits, but much of the credit is due to my colleagues in the group and to generations of PhD students, particularly those involved in the spin-out companies," said Professor Cawley.

Professor Russell Cowburn (Department of Physics) is distinguished for his research on magetism in nanostructures, and for the translation of his scientific discoveries into disruptive technologies.

Professor Cowburn uses nanotechnology to develop ways of meeting some of today's big challenges, such as finding energy-efficient ways of storing large amounts of data on small chips and preventing crime. He works on 'spintronics,' with the aim of developing new microchips that can store thousands of times more data than today's microchips. Spintronics is a field of science focused on using and controlling the spin of electrons to store, process and receive information.

Professor Cowburn also harnesses the way laser light scatters off surfaces, to form unique and uncopyable identity codes that can be used to detect and prevent counterfeiting and smuggling.

Professor Russell Cowburn

Professor Cowburn joined Imperial 2005 as Professor of Nanotechnology, having previously worked at the Universities of Durham, Cambridge and Paris. Since coming to Imperial, he has built up a large research group studying the physics of nanotechnology and has started a company to commercialise some of their discoveries.

"I am delighted that the work that I've been involved with has received this recognition and very grateful to the wonderful scientists from all around the world who've worked with me in my group over the years," said Professor Cowburn.

Professor Elizabeth Simpson (Department of Medicine) is distinguished for her elucidation of the nature of male-associated minor transplantation antigens, and their roles in the mechanisms of immunological tolerance, graft versus host disease and transplant rejection.

Professor Simpson's research has been into the question of how immune responses are balanced between 'go' and 'stop'. People need their immune responses in 'go' mode to protect them from infections, but to 'slow down' or 'stop' when it comes to transplants or autoimmune disease. Professor Simpson generated a model system of transplantation to examine the response to a 'weak' antigen where the balance is delicate.

Professor Elizabeth Simpson

Professor Simpson qualified in veterinary medicine at Cambridge, followed by a period in practice and postgraduate training in pathology. She joined the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in 1994, as part of the relocated MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC), just before its merger with Imperial.

After the merger, Professor Simpson became deputy director of the CSC, a position she held until her formal retirement in 2004 as Emeritus Professor of Transplantation Biology. She has continued to carry out collaborative research since then.

"My election to fellowship of the Royal Society gives great pleasure both to me and the colleagues, especially Prof Julian Dyson and Dr Diane Scott, with whom I have worked closely to establish a research platform now widely used to interrogate the immune system. I feel that I've asked some of the right questions, and devised productive routes to address and extend them to new questions in basic and translational science," said Professor Simpson.

Visiting Professor John William Connor (Department of Physics) was elected for being one of the most influential theoretical plasma physicists in the international fusion programme. He has made wide-ranging contributions to the theory of fusion plasmas, essential for the development of fusion power. In addition to his role at Imperial, Professor Connor is a consultant in the Theory and Modelling Department at Culham Science Centre in Oxford.

Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, USA

Professors Marc Feldmann and Sir Ravinder Maini (Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology) have been elected foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences, USA - a rare honour - in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Professors Maini and Feldmann discovered that a single protein mediator, termed TNFα, was instrumental in driving the disease process behind rheumatoid arthritis.

Their work - from laboratory investigations to clinical trials - has led to major improvements in the treatment not only of rheumatoid arthritis, but also of other chronic debilitating diseases such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and ankylosing spondylitis. The anti TNF therapy they developed has been effectively used in millions of patients and has not only improved symptoms and signs but also dramatically reduced joint damage. The sales of the anti TNFα biological medicines have been huge and have driven a revolution in therapeutics, with biological medicines now a major thrust in development of new therapies.

Professor Feldmann is a clinically trained immunologist. He joined the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology in 1990, prior to its merger with Imperial College London in 2000. He became Head of the Institute in 2002.

Professor Feldmann said: "Recognition from one's respected peers is important. The National Academy of Sciences of the USA elects few (18) foreign associates each year, and so it is a wonderful recognition and pleasant surprise to have been elected."

Professor Maini graduated in Medicine and is career combines clinical practice and research. He was appointed Scientific Director of the Kennedy Institute in 1990 and he was the first Head of the Institute following its merger with Imperial in 2000. He continues as Professor Emeritus since retirement.

Professor Maini said: "Being elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the USA as a foreign associate is an honour and a privilege. It provides unparalleled opportunities for engagement with talented colleagues and scientific developments in our active field of research in the USA."

Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

Professors Eric Aboagye, Jeremy Nicholson and Richard Wise have been elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Academy Fellows are elected for outstanding contributions to the advancement of medical science, for innovative application of scientific knowledge or for conspicuous service to healthcare.

Professor Eric Aboagye (Department of Surgery and Cancer) is Director of the CRUK-EPSRC-MRC-NIHR Comprehensive Cancer Imaging Centre at Imperial College London and head of the MRC-CSC Molecular Therapy group.

Professor Eric Aboagye

His group is interested in the discovery and development of new methods for experimental and clinical cancer molecular imaging. Professor Aboagye first came to Imperial in 1998 as a senior research fellow within the Department of Oncology and the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, after a post-doc fellowship at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He was made a Professor in 2006.

Professor Aboagye said: "It is a great privilege to be elected to the Academy. I was moved by the nice messages from colleagues and friends. Clearly, I owe this honour to the excellent team I’ve been lucky to work with. Molecular imaging has a great potential for improving patient management and I would like to see further growth in this research arena."

Professor Jeremy Nicholson is Head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial. His research interests include molecular physio-chemical processes in metabolism and medicine; NMR Spectroscopy, Mass spectroscopy and hyphenated methods for studying drug metabolism; pattern recognition and computational chemistry in drug design and diagnostics; and metabolism-driven top-down systems biology modeling of complex system failure.

Professor Nicholson became Professor and Head of Biological Chemistry at Imperial in 1998, having previously worked at Birkbeck College and the London School of Pharmacy.

Professor Richard Wise (Department of Medicine) is the head of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Group at Imperial, investigating the neural systems involved in a number of higher cognitive processes including language, memory, executive control and sensorimotor processing. His research uses a wide range of techniques: functional MRI, positron emission tomography (PET), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magentoencephalography (MEG), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

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